Manufacturer recalls for January 2019

With the dreaded Takata issue making a comeback in the news, the number of vehicles recalled in the past month is sizeable.

Volvo recalls 219,000 of its cars (11 models including XC60 and XC90) after it found an engineering issue that can potentially cause fuel leakage. These vehicles may have some cracks in the fuel lines which can leak fuel into the engine compartment over time. The affected cars were built in 2015 and 2016.

The Takata airbag woes still haunt the car makers as a recent announcement by Fiat Chrysler shows. A whopping 1.6 million vehicles are being recalled worldwide to replace the front airbag inflator made by Takata Corp, a supplier made infamous by their faulty airbag which deploys with no stimulus. The FCA models getting recalled this time include Jeep Wrangler (2010 through 2016), the 2010 Ram 3500 pickup and 4500/5500 Chassis Cab trucks, Dodge Dakota pickup(2010 & 2011), Dodge Challenger (2010 through 2014), Dodge Charger (2011 through 2015 ), and Chrysler 300 (2010 through 2015).

Takata doesn’t stop with FCA this time. Ford has announced a colossal recall prevailing over 953,000 vehicles worldwide to replace the Takata inflators. The models include 2010 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, the 2010 and 2011 Ford Ranger, the 2010 to 2012 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ, the 2010 and 2011 Mercury Milan, and the 2010 to 2014 Ford Mustang. Ford will start notifying its customers, starting from 18, Feb and the replacement parts have been made available for dealers to order.

About 874,000 Ford full-size pickup trucks are getting recalled for rectifying an issue with their engine block heaters. The splice connector of the block heater cable is not sealed properly, letting in water and contaminants into the connection, corrosion. Thus the Block heater cable can short out when it’s plugged in, leading to problems which is capable of causing a fire. The problem affects some 2015-2019 F-150s, and 2017-2019 Super Duty trucks. But in our hot weather, an engine block heater is a useless feature so it is unlikely to be offered with any truck in the GCC.

Check with your local dealer if you think any of these recalls affect you.